Good morning DC music friends, we hope you had a snowy and cozy Monday for Martin Luther King.
In the News
The CityPaper’s new Beats Me feature provides an avalanche of reviews for new DC music by Teen Mortgage, Walk the Plank, Flowerbomb, Mystery Friends, Broke Royals, Bad Moves, Wandering Bird, and Strutman Lane.
Mark Jenkins at WaPo previewed last week’s Black Cat show by ska lifers Kill Lincoln, and revealed the origin of the band’s name which whoops was totally not what we thought it was.
The concert review blog Parklife DC previewed the January 26th show at The Atlantis featuring synthpop band Mystery Friends.
Moechella’s Justin “Yaddiya” Johnson opened a pop-up bar called The Alumni in the Baby Wale space on 9th St. NW that celebrates influential figures in go-go. DCist has the story.
District Fray’s Trent Johnson interviewed DC musicians Cat Janice and Kyle Higginbotham about their origin stories and unlikely romance. Janice’s single “Dance You Outta My Head” drops January 19th, and you can (and should) read the latest on her medical situation on her IG.
DC Music Video
In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, top shelf go-go band Black Alley premiered the music video for “Smile (The Armenian Remix)”. Last summer, as part of the State Department’s American Music Abroad program, the US Embassy sponsored Black Alley to share DC’s unique style with the former Soviet republic of Armenia, and the video shows the incredible reception they got on their tour. This version of “Smile” features hip-hop cellist and rapper Artyom Manukyan and tar player Miqayel Voskanyan.
Don’t Stay Home This Week
Wednesday January 17th
Founder/saxophonist Brad Linde and trumpeter Joe Herrera lead the 17-piece Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra in their new monthly residency at the Carlyle Room Wednesday evening.
Thursday January 18th
If you’re feeling both poppy and punky, head to Pie Shop Thursday night for DC bands Curse Words and Railsplitter welcoming riot girls Nevva from Brooklyn, hosted by the unstoppable photographer Roxplosion.
Honorable mentions:
Soroche & Bongo District at Wonderland Ballroom for the monthly Bluebeat ska/reggae/latin night.
Wandering Bird, Fanfaire and Adele Marie at Songbyrd
Friday January 19th
Silver Spring band TORO’s Bandcamp URL is https://toroallcaps.bandcamp.com, so we got the memo and have ensured proper capitalization is in place. The shoegaze/punk band celebrates the release of their debut album Honor The Bull at The Runaway Friday night along with metal-punks Tripping Corpse and garage oddballs Sad Roach.
Get grungy at Songbyrd Friday night with 3 great DC bands: Prude, featuring Nick Bairatchnyi from The Obsessives; psychedelic Bowie-ish Argo and the Violent Queens; and Blunda, who haven’t yet released songs but here’s some live vids from Sandi Redman to give you the idea.
Honorable mentions:
Humbalaya at Pearl St. Warehouse
The Montaines & Red Horizon at Comet
Saturday January 20th
Emo heroes Pinkhouse release their long-awaited new EP Vanity Project at Songbyrd Saturday night. The beefy 4 band bill includes Orbweaver from Richmond, highly-caffeinated pop-punks Keep Your Secrets, and hard-post-punk band Outerloop.
Honorable mentions:
Continuals, Anocean, Weird Babies at Pie Shop
The Blackbyrds at Howard Theatre
Sunday January 21st
The Pie Shop offers up a all-ages 4 band bill of punk Sunday evening, including Buffalo’s K-Hole, Muscle from Baltimore, and DC acts Drivel and Pickaxe.
Whew, That’s Good For Now
We hope you found something new to listen to this week from the links above. It’s not easy these days, is it? The algorithms want us to keep listening to the same old sounds. But there’s more unique stuff to hear than ever in history, and all it takes is your attention. As always, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week.
-PV